Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Our family does a big Christmas Eve and a laid back PJ's and presents Christmas day. We go from Christmas morning jammies to afternoon nap jammies, it's kind of our thing not to get properly dressed on Christmas day. Anyway, since the day before we spend most of the day cooking and entertaining I try to do all meals as simple as possible on Christmas day, so we had Apple Pie Oats for breakfast and leftover paninis for linnerish. The Oats were super simple and super delicious and the leftover sandwiches were really yummy. The oats I did in the crockpot, it was 1 cup of steel cut oats (I used Bob's Red Mill brand), one can apple pie filling, 1 1/2 cup cherry cider (you could also use apple cider or just plain apple juice) and 2 cups water. Add all in a crockpot for 2 hours on high. I started it when we woke up at 6:30 and it was ready by the time the kids were coming down from their stocking candy sugar high. My guilty conscious got the better of me and I did serve it with turkey sausage to curb the sugar rush...just a bit. What can I say, it is Christmas after all. The oats tasted just like hot apple pie, desert for breakfast and I didn't even hate myself after eating it. Total calories for a cup of oats was 250, 2g of fat, 5g of protein and as a belated Christmas gift I am leaving out how many carbs...your welcome. This recipe would be great on New Years morning after staying up for the ball drop on New Years Eve. I wish all of you a very Happy New Year and as Oprah once said “Cheers to a new year and another chance for us to get it right.” Till 2014, Cheers,T.SaddHere is a picture of our leftover sandwiches, just cause I mentioned them above=)

Thursday, December 12, 2013

I have been making this chili for years and it is so simple, healthy and made with whole food ingredients. I usually cut the tomatoes the night before and then in the morning brown the beef and onions then throw all the indigents in the crockpot and by 5pm I have a healthy yummy dinner ready to serve. This meal is great for soccer Saturdays, Sunday football, or crazy Mondays when you are rushing around and don't have time to whip up an Emeril style dinner;) I usually will make a double batch and freeze some for later when I really have no desire to cook but still want to serve a healthy meal. You only need 6 ingredients and about 20 minutes.

Brown beef in a skillet with onions, drain the juice from the kidney beans into the crockpot or pot you are going to cook the chili in, rinse the kidney beans in a colander to wash any excess starches off. Add beef, chopped tomatoes, tomato paste and beans; mixing them together, then finally adding the seasoning. Cook on low for 6-8 hours or high for 3-4. The leftovers are great for chili cheese fries, over a baked potato, or chili dogs. This is a great cold weather recipe that will have your family singing you praises and only you will know how simple it is to make. For a heaping cup of chili it has only 200 calories, 5g of fat, 21g of carbs and 18g of protein. That leaves a whole lot of room for cheese and sour cream on top. When I make the chili cheese fries, baked potato, or chili dogs I will usually only use half a cup of chili.
Till Next Blog,
Stay Warm my Friends
T.Sadd

P.S. For an added kick of Vitamin C during cold and flu season add chopped bell peppers into the mix.